Source: Popsci

Wiring large building for fire safety systems, climate control mechanisms, and other public safety monitoring schemes consumes a lot of wire -- imagine how much feet of copper connects every room, corridor, stairwell and broom closet in a building like the Empire State. So researchers figured out a far more simplified scheme for creating wireless sensor networks within buildings -- why not use the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) ducts that are already connecting the entire building as a big antenna that relays data via radio frequency identification (RFID)?

The scheme is rather simple but it could amount to huge cost savings for builders, as it saves the materials and time needed to physically connect sensors within a structure. Take the climate control system for instance. In order to function properly, temperature sensors have to be wired throughout the building to tell the central heating and cooling unit when and where to pipe conditioned air. Read more here. 

Source: MIT News

Although unmanned, wheeled rovers have explored the surfaces of the moon and Mars for decades, these vehicles have limits — they can’t crawl inside craters, scale cliffs or travel long distances.

For more than two years, a team of students led by Professor of the Practice of Astronautics and former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics has been collaborating with engineers from the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory to design and build a prototype for a new type of robotic explorer that would hop over, rather than traverse, a planetary surface. Hopping, they believe, would make it easier for an explorer to access tricky sites and travel greater distances, and thus collect more data during a mission. Read more here. 

Source: newsletter HGH

HGH, expert in infrared optronics for over 25 years, received the "Product of The Year 2008" award from the prestigious US magazine "NASA Tech Briefs".

This prize was awarded to HGH for their innovative Vigiscan (IR Revolution 360) panoramic infrared camera, which enables surveillance of large areas. Indeed, the performance of this unique system enables simultaneously visualization & detection of all intrusions over 360°.